


No Chasers

by Starmarked



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Married Couple, Multi, Polyamory, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-24 21:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21344944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starmarked/pseuds/Starmarked
Summary: Sometimes being in love with someone can make you feel a little tipsy all the time, even if you've had nothing to drink.Being in love with Joseph Christiansen in particular brings the feeling of pounding eight straight shots of tequila and deciding you'll face the consequences later.
Relationships: Joseph Christiansen/Dadsona, Joseph Christiansen/Mary Christiansen, Joseph Christiansen/Mary Christiansen/Dadsona, Mary Christiansen/Dadsona
Kudos: 12





	1. The Bad End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joseph tries to start an arrangement, and Dadsona makes a tough decision.
> 
> (This predictably picks up during Joseph's bad end, where you're sitting under the tree with him before Amanda comes to find you.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize in advance for the nothing-but-angst intro, I promise it'll become more lovey and less sad.
> 
> Everything is going to be in first-person from Dadsona's POV and in third-person for everyone else.

I stare down at my legs, avoiding his eyes. "Although it's not what I wanted to hear, I do understand."

"But that doesn't mean we can't still, you know..."

I look up at him. The falling leaves and golden glow of the sunset give him a radiance I've never seen before. I want to rush into his arms and kiss him. Try to make him relive the memories on the yacht and inspire him to maybe create more. Most of all I want to selfishly indulge myself and take him up on his offer, if only to delay the inevitable truths between us for a little longer.

I can see where this is going, though, and it's nowhere good for either of us. I stop Joseph right there.

"That's not what I want."

He pauses and meets my gaze, clearly not expecting the rebuff. "I... I don't understand. You know that even though I'm with Mary, I'm not really _with_ her–"

"That's exactly the problem. I don't want to just be your someone on the side forever or worse, to get in the way of you reconciling with your wife if that's still a possibility."

I sigh. "In truth, it's not about you. I care about you a whole lot, Joseph, and I'd absolutely love to be with you. There just... doesn't seem to be a way for that to happen without someone getting hurt right now."

He looks hurt. Oh, God. This is hard. I hug him. He surprisingly doesn't push me away. "You just need to figure things out with yourself before you try figuring out your love life."

He lets me keep my arms around him a while longer. "Alright. I understand." He stands from his place on the bench and fixes his cardigan. He looks briefly toward the open backyard gate as if he can't make his getaway fast enough. "So... see you around?"

I nod. "See you around."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fic I'm actually posting on here and not just leaving in a note on my phone or a Word document so we'll see how it turns out.
> 
> Also if you're curious, my writing music for this first chapter was literally just the Dream Daddy theme on loop


	2. The Story is Starting or the Story Ends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joseph wakes up early and is sad. Mary wakes up early and is also sad. Everybody is sad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to execute me for painful slow-burn crimes.

Joseph looks over his shoulder, checking his position before slowly easing into the dock. He lowers the ship's ramp and exits, making sure the rope tethering it is secure. With a sigh, he takes out his keys and heads back towards where he had parked his car.

It was just him on the water today. He'd woken up somewhere in the vicinity of 3:00 AM and laid in bed for almost an hour before accepting defeat. Knowing any more time spent trying to go back to sleep would be a waste, he decided to go out. After all, Joseph had a lot on his mind, and usually nothing took him out of his thoughts and into the Margarita Zone faster than a trip out on the yacht. What he hadn't known was how surprisingly ineffective it would be today. After two hours and several mimosas, he was no less lonely and confused than before.

He thinks the outing may have only made him feel worse. Leaning on the railing, having dropped anchor in a quiet area, he'd watched as the sun rose in a spectrum of pink and orange hues. _Beautiful_, he'd thought at the time. Nothing should be able to sour someone's mood after they'd seen that, as far as he was concerned. Yet the thought of how much _more_ beautiful the sunrise might be to watch if he was with Dadsona ate away at his very heart. By the time he leaves the harbor he is feeling broken and very, very tired– and it's all his fault.

•••

As Joseph is on his way to get breakfast and go home, Mary is just waking. 6:30 is far earlier than she'd normally get up on a Saturday, but she had been suddenly jolted out of her dreams by her own treasonous body. Evidently nobody had told her internal clock that she didn't need to go to work today. She gives a weary glance to the rumples in the bedsheet on the other half of the mattress, the only indication that her husband has been in the house at all recently. She gets up and heads to the living room, frustrated by her shortened rest and absent spouse. She won't call to check up on him– Joseph's disappeared on her this way enough times for her to not really care anymore.

Mary rubs her eyes, hoping for some of the early morning haziness in her mind to go away. When that doesn't work, she quietly shuffles to the kitchen to put on a pot of good, strong coffee. She sits on the couch in front of the fireplace while she waits and looks for something to do. She spies a random book that was left on the mantle about raising your children in a Godly way and chuckles wryly. The dichotomy between Joseph's visible life to the community and his personal life is remarkable.

Next to the book, though, is a pretty silver photo frame. It's an older photo, of Mary and Joseph's wedding day many years ago. They'd had a beach wedding (naturally), on the warm shores of Florida's appropriately-named Honeymoon Island. Mary startles herself with the realization that she can hardly remember any of the ceremony itself. She immediately chalks it up to the passage of time. This is what she tells herself, even as she knows it is far more likely that the event has just waned in importance to them as time has gone on. After all, what does a lovely tropical summer wedding matter if over 10 years down the line you'll barely speak to one another anymore?...

Mary stands and makes her way back to the kitchen. She shuts the coffeemaker off with the press of a button, then immediately opens an upper cabinet to pull out a red wine glass. The top of the bottle comes off with little resistance, as if it was just waiting on the shelf for her to break the promise she'd made to herself of doing better today. She takes her first sip of the morning. It doesn't even taste like anything.

She doesn't know why she thought today would be any different than usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is from a song conveniently called 'Saturday Morning' by Harry Chapin.
> 
> ...I swear it'll become fluffy eventually.


End file.
